Coach Chris Wilson
The pass rush is still a concern
“I thought we improved from a week ago. A hundred less yards, we have to get more opportunities to get to the quarterback. And again we hit him a couple times but I’m talking about to get some clean sacks. So we’ll just keep working this week. Because next week obviously it’s Pac-12 time and we have a good opponent coming in.”
He’s looking for certain traits from his players
“Technique and effort. And execution is never third, it’s right in there. The thing I want to see is fundamentals, I want to see guys finishing plays and then the execution of it. A lot of times, those first two over come the last one. We just have to get clean and guys have to get reps where they can come out of the game and fix their own problems.”
Justin Davis
He was thrilled to have that kind of game after his injury
“It’s so gratifying, for this to be my first full practicing week. I’ve been out for I don’t know how long, it felt like a year. Just to be out here with all my boys, all my young running backs, just having fun, there’s no greater feeling.”
Having five tailbacks is huge for USC
“The main thing about it is, that it’s going to keep us all fresh for the season. I remember last year it was just me and Buck Allen and we kind of got banged up towards the end of the season. We’re going to stay fresh and no matter who’s in there, the defense is going to be on their toes because of all that good talent.”
He was fed the ball in game one. He believes that was the strategy
“Probably because going into Pac-12 play, I have to get in a rhythm and this is where it starts. We’re going to take all this momentum going forward and hopefully it pays off in the Pac-12.”
Ronald Jones impresses Davis
“Explosive. You call him Jamal Charles, Chris Johnson, whoever, because he’s going to be really big for the Trojans in the future.”
Davis thinks Jones might be the fatest Trojan
“I think so, on the field at least, it looks that way.”
Davis didn’t practice very much this year before this game.
“I can count on one hand how many times I practiced. It just feels so good to come back and actually be able to make a difference. It felt good to be back.”
He’s feeling better about himself after the Idaho game
“I can’t lie, I was down on myself a little bit but now I’m back in the groove and now I’m feeling good going into Stanford.”
Practice leading into Idaho week was tough
“Tuesday and Wednesday were one of the hardest practices ever. Everyone said that and I think it was for good reason. We can’t take any opponent lightly, we have to treat every opponent the same and just having that intensity in practice and carrying it over to the game, it paid off.”
Chad Wheeler
The offensive line improved
“We were on the same page more. A big part of it was communication, being disciplined and not trying to do everybody’s job, just do your job.”
It helped playing a familiar defense
“It was a three down team instead of a four down. So our defense plays an odd front. We were a little bit more comfortable.”
Greg Townsend
He expected more from the defensive line
“They kind of got the ball out quick so that was something we were expecting. But we were expecting to have more performance out there, more production from the D-Line.”
Quarterback pressure is crucial
“As a d-lineman, that’s the main thing you want to do. You want to put pressure on a quarterback, put pressure in his face, get hits on a quarterback and make him remember you. That’s definitely something we’re paying attention to and we’re trying to get out there and make it happen.”
This team should be capable of rushing the passer
“I feel that this team is very capable of pressuring the quarterback. I mean, we have rushers all over the place, we have a specific rush position, we have the three down d-lineman, we have people like Su’a Cravens who’s just an amazing athlete all around. So we just have to put it on film.”
Stopping the run will help USC rush the passer
“We don’t want to let anybody run down the middle of our defense, run down our throat, make any plays within the run game because, you stop that, it helps you get to the pass, it helps you get to the sacks, it helps you get to the quarterback hits and pressures and all that.”
Deontay Burnett
He never planned to redshirt
“The plan for me is that, I wasn’t going to redshirt. I just knew if my number was called I would have to stay ready and make the best of my opportunities. Down the road, you may see me in there a lot but I’m not sure yet, so we’ll see in the future.”
The experience of playing in college was new and exciting
“It’s different. In high school, you could spot people out in the stands easily. But in the Coliseum, surrounded by many thousands of people, it’s surreal.”
Jonathan Lockett
He found out he was starting on game day
“They just told me at the hotel that I was starting and it just went from there. Coach (Keith) Heyward just told me I was starting and it went from there.”
“They told me told me today (Saturday). They just came up to me and told me I was starting.”
Lockett was thrilled to start
“It’s a dream come true to start on USC as a cornerback and get your name called up in the starting lineup and stuff like that and it was for sure exciting and I liked it a lot.”
Lockett has grown tremendously in one year
“A lot changed. I understand that its your preparation during the week, during practice. How you play during practice is going to be how you play during game days. I feel like if you just practice hard it’s going to pay off in the long run.”
Platooning the defensive backs should help
“It helps out a lot because I get way more experience. Last season I was getting put into games where it was a blow out in the fourth quarter and stuff like that. But this year I’m in the rotation when it’s like 7-0, first quarter and stuff like that. It helps me figure out how the game speed in the game is because usually it dies down at the end (of a blowout). That helps me a lot and helps the whole secondary a lot.”
JuJu Smith
Felt good to catch deep passes
“Last week we missed Steven (Mitchell) a couple times, we missed me too, but coming out this week and executing those deep balls is awesome. Practice makes perfect and that’s what we were doing the whole week, deep balls, deep balls. We want other schools to know, yeah we can go deep too.”
Improved timing helped the deep ball
“It was timing. We go off of steps, Cody (Kessler) takes a step and I felt like last week, we had more pressure on the line. Cody’s balls were flat, it wasn’t on point. But I think this week, our line stepped up really big.”
Claude Pelon
He feels like he's back
“Coming back, just going out there and just rolling, making sure I effect the quarterback in each and every way and stop the run game.”
He has to get in shape
“I feel like I’m doing better. I have to get in shape, I’ve been out for like three weeks now, I have to get conditioned so once I get conditioned I’ll be fine. Health wise I’m fine.”
He wants to start again
“Hungry, I’m starving, I can’t wait. Hopefully this week something changes, whatever happens. But I’m fine where I’m at right now, I’m good. It’s for the team, the betterment of the team, it is what it is.”
The pass rush needs to improve
“Certain things that we’re doing right now aren’t allowing us to get back there. We have to understand what we’re doing out there. We’ll change it up. We need to improve on it definitely as a group but I think we’ll get there.”
Scott Felix
Opposing offenses has hurt his team’s ability to rush
“Each offense is kind of different. Last week, Arkansas State threw the ball in like two seconds so it was kind of hard to get to the quarterback. They held it a little bit longer tonight so we got a couple more quarterback hits. Obviously we want to get sacks. So we have to look at the film and see whether we need to clean up our pass rush or whether if it’s the corners on the back end. It’s a team thing.”
He’s noticed consistent play from the rush ends.
“I think it’s just consistency. We want to get guys that are, when we sub we want to have guys not drop at all. We want to have it keep going consistently. So when Porter (Gustin) subs in for me or when Jabari (Ruffin) subs in we have to keep going straight and not have it drop down.”
The pass rush is still a concern
“I thought we improved from a week ago. A hundred less yards, we have to get more opportunities to get to the quarterback. And again we hit him a couple times but I’m talking about to get some clean sacks. So we’ll just keep working this week. Because next week obviously it’s Pac-12 time and we have a good opponent coming in.”
He’s looking for certain traits from his players
“Technique and effort. And execution is never third, it’s right in there. The thing I want to see is fundamentals, I want to see guys finishing plays and then the execution of it. A lot of times, those first two over come the last one. We just have to get clean and guys have to get reps where they can come out of the game and fix their own problems.”
Justin Davis
He was thrilled to have that kind of game after his injury
“It’s so gratifying, for this to be my first full practicing week. I’ve been out for I don’t know how long, it felt like a year. Just to be out here with all my boys, all my young running backs, just having fun, there’s no greater feeling.”
Having five tailbacks is huge for USC
“The main thing about it is, that it’s going to keep us all fresh for the season. I remember last year it was just me and Buck Allen and we kind of got banged up towards the end of the season. We’re going to stay fresh and no matter who’s in there, the defense is going to be on their toes because of all that good talent.”
He was fed the ball in game one. He believes that was the strategy
“Probably because going into Pac-12 play, I have to get in a rhythm and this is where it starts. We’re going to take all this momentum going forward and hopefully it pays off in the Pac-12.”
Ronald Jones impresses Davis
“Explosive. You call him Jamal Charles, Chris Johnson, whoever, because he’s going to be really big for the Trojans in the future.”
Davis thinks Jones might be the fatest Trojan
“I think so, on the field at least, it looks that way.”
Davis didn’t practice very much this year before this game.
“I can count on one hand how many times I practiced. It just feels so good to come back and actually be able to make a difference. It felt good to be back.”
He’s feeling better about himself after the Idaho game
“I can’t lie, I was down on myself a little bit but now I’m back in the groove and now I’m feeling good going into Stanford.”
Practice leading into Idaho week was tough
“Tuesday and Wednesday were one of the hardest practices ever. Everyone said that and I think it was for good reason. We can’t take any opponent lightly, we have to treat every opponent the same and just having that intensity in practice and carrying it over to the game, it paid off.”
Chad Wheeler
The offensive line improved
“We were on the same page more. A big part of it was communication, being disciplined and not trying to do everybody’s job, just do your job.”
It helped playing a familiar defense
“It was a three down team instead of a four down. So our defense plays an odd front. We were a little bit more comfortable.”
Greg Townsend
He expected more from the defensive line
“They kind of got the ball out quick so that was something we were expecting. But we were expecting to have more performance out there, more production from the D-Line.”
Quarterback pressure is crucial
“As a d-lineman, that’s the main thing you want to do. You want to put pressure on a quarterback, put pressure in his face, get hits on a quarterback and make him remember you. That’s definitely something we’re paying attention to and we’re trying to get out there and make it happen.”
This team should be capable of rushing the passer
“I feel that this team is very capable of pressuring the quarterback. I mean, we have rushers all over the place, we have a specific rush position, we have the three down d-lineman, we have people like Su’a Cravens who’s just an amazing athlete all around. So we just have to put it on film.”
Stopping the run will help USC rush the passer
“We don’t want to let anybody run down the middle of our defense, run down our throat, make any plays within the run game because, you stop that, it helps you get to the pass, it helps you get to the sacks, it helps you get to the quarterback hits and pressures and all that.”
Deontay Burnett
He never planned to redshirt
“The plan for me is that, I wasn’t going to redshirt. I just knew if my number was called I would have to stay ready and make the best of my opportunities. Down the road, you may see me in there a lot but I’m not sure yet, so we’ll see in the future.”
The experience of playing in college was new and exciting
“It’s different. In high school, you could spot people out in the stands easily. But in the Coliseum, surrounded by many thousands of people, it’s surreal.”
Jonathan Lockett
He found out he was starting on game day
“They just told me at the hotel that I was starting and it just went from there. Coach (Keith) Heyward just told me I was starting and it went from there.”
“They told me told me today (Saturday). They just came up to me and told me I was starting.”
Lockett was thrilled to start
“It’s a dream come true to start on USC as a cornerback and get your name called up in the starting lineup and stuff like that and it was for sure exciting and I liked it a lot.”
Lockett has grown tremendously in one year
“A lot changed. I understand that its your preparation during the week, during practice. How you play during practice is going to be how you play during game days. I feel like if you just practice hard it’s going to pay off in the long run.”
Platooning the defensive backs should help
“It helps out a lot because I get way more experience. Last season I was getting put into games where it was a blow out in the fourth quarter and stuff like that. But this year I’m in the rotation when it’s like 7-0, first quarter and stuff like that. It helps me figure out how the game speed in the game is because usually it dies down at the end (of a blowout). That helps me a lot and helps the whole secondary a lot.”
JuJu Smith
Felt good to catch deep passes
“Last week we missed Steven (Mitchell) a couple times, we missed me too, but coming out this week and executing those deep balls is awesome. Practice makes perfect and that’s what we were doing the whole week, deep balls, deep balls. We want other schools to know, yeah we can go deep too.”
Improved timing helped the deep ball
“It was timing. We go off of steps, Cody (Kessler) takes a step and I felt like last week, we had more pressure on the line. Cody’s balls were flat, it wasn’t on point. But I think this week, our line stepped up really big.”
Claude Pelon
He feels like he's back
“Coming back, just going out there and just rolling, making sure I effect the quarterback in each and every way and stop the run game.”
He has to get in shape
“I feel like I’m doing better. I have to get in shape, I’ve been out for like three weeks now, I have to get conditioned so once I get conditioned I’ll be fine. Health wise I’m fine.”
He wants to start again
“Hungry, I’m starving, I can’t wait. Hopefully this week something changes, whatever happens. But I’m fine where I’m at right now, I’m good. It’s for the team, the betterment of the team, it is what it is.”
The pass rush needs to improve
“Certain things that we’re doing right now aren’t allowing us to get back there. We have to understand what we’re doing out there. We’ll change it up. We need to improve on it definitely as a group but I think we’ll get there.”
Scott Felix
Opposing offenses has hurt his team’s ability to rush
“Each offense is kind of different. Last week, Arkansas State threw the ball in like two seconds so it was kind of hard to get to the quarterback. They held it a little bit longer tonight so we got a couple more quarterback hits. Obviously we want to get sacks. So we have to look at the film and see whether we need to clean up our pass rush or whether if it’s the corners on the back end. It’s a team thing.”
He’s noticed consistent play from the rush ends.
“I think it’s just consistency. We want to get guys that are, when we sub we want to have guys not drop at all. We want to have it keep going consistently. So when Porter (Gustin) subs in for me or when Jabari (Ruffin) subs in we have to keep going straight and not have it drop down.”
